AN estimated 27,000 people crammed into the tiny streets of Godalming to watch local hero Dan Eley, Olympian Roger Black and five other torchbearers carry the London 2012 flame through the town.

Two-time silver medallist Black waved to cheering crowds as he carried his torch from the Pepperpot in the High Street.

The torch had seen the full sights of Surrey, arriving in Godalming shortly before 5.45pm to start its journey along Meadrow, before hitting the town centre, where it was held aloft by Witley man Dan Eley, chosen as a torchbearer for his inspirational charity work following a life-changing diving accident which left him in a wheelchair and paralysed from the elbows down.

Black, who took silver in the the 400m and 4x400m relay in the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games, shared a hug with the preceding torchbearer and founder of the Dan Eley Foundation, who was being supported by family, colleagues and friends from the Leonard Cheshire Home in Hydon Hill, where he has lived since leaving hospital in 2011.

The emotion was written on Mr Eley's face as he completed his stretch of the High Street amid a sea of flags, before being helped back onto the torch convoy to make his way back to Guildford with fellow Godalming torchbearers Becky Robinson, Megan Munro, Kate Evans, Michael Harris and Rachel McLean.

A flash mob of singers from the Godalming Rock Choir took control of the crowd with their version of Dancing in the Streets, before moving on to the Burys Field to wrap up the 'Celebrate the Torch' event which had been busy since 1pm.

Pupils from nearby schools and their parents went along for food and activities as soon as term finished for the summer, and MP Jeremy Hunt joined paralympian Rachel Morris for the unveiling of an Olympic sculpture.

Designed and produced by artist Christine Charlesworth, 'We Carried the Flame' honours the pride and sense of occasion of the torchbearers, and is one of several pieces she has produced as one of the official BT Olympic artists.